Installation
Throughline runs natively on macOS and Windows. There’s no web account and no login. The app lives on your machine, and your work lives in .thrl files wherever you choose to keep them.
Buy and download
Section titled “Buy and download”Get Throughline at shop.getthroughline.com. It’s a one-time purchase, no subscription. Your download link appears right after checkout, and again in your receipt email.
Your purchase also includes a license key; see License Keys for where to find it and how to activate.
Pick the build for your platform:
- macOS: a
.dmg. Open it, drag Throughline into Applications, done. - Windows: a setup
.exe. Run it and follow the prompts. The last page has a box labeled Open Throughline Community Invite. It is ticked by default, so your browser opens the Discord invite when you click Finish. Untick it if you do not want that.
First launch
Section titled “First launch”Throughline opens on the home screen, with the demo project ready to explore and room for your own story. From here you can create a new project, open a .thrl file, or import a screenplay; see Quick Start for that first walk-through.
Coming from an earlier version of Throughline? On first launch, Throughline asks you to choose one folder for your existing projects and saves each of them there as a .thrl file. Nothing is deleted. See Upgrading from an earlier Throughline.
Beta builds greet you with a short welcome note on first launch, and an occasional reminder after that: your projects are now .thrl files in a folder you choose, saved as you write, autosaves run as always, and the team wants to hear about anything that feels off. Alpha builds are rougher company. They open and save your real project files, so try them on copies of anything important.
Getting updates
Section titled “Getting updates”Throughline checks for a new version when it launches. If one is out, you get a dialog telling you what’s new, with a Download button. Updates come from your Throughline purchase on Gumroad, the same place you got the app. See Updating Throughline for the steps, including what to do if you bought without a Gumroad account.